We've discussed this all year. What's the catalyst to send stocks and other risk assets ripping in the first half of the year?
It's the U.S. Dollar.
I continue to be impressed with just how resilient stocks have been, despite the Dollar's relentless bid over the past 4-5 months.
And now here we are, with so many people crying all weekend about something they call "tariffs", and they're slamming the Dollar.
It's all happening right at the 61.8% retracement of the entire '22-'23 decline. Do you think that's a coincidence?
I do not.
When it comes to the stock market, we always like to do a sum-of-the-parts analysis, whether it's the S&P500, or Dow Industrials or NYSE components. We call it market breadth.
We go through the exact same process in forex markets.
If you think that the US Dollar is going to fall, sending stocks and other risk assets souring, then you'll need to see a bid in other forex markets.
We can go one by one if you want. But I brought 2 important ones with me that I think are about to rip, confirming the US Dollar weakness.
Here's the Canadian Dollar breaking below former support, and...
Suppose you're watching the evening cable news, reading the New York Times (or newspaper of your choice), or paying attention to your echo chamber on the socials. You'd be right to assume all the economies of the world (both friends and enemies of the U.S.) are staring into the abyss and their stock markets are about to be cut in half.
That's cool if you'd like to live that way. I doubt it'll make you any money, though.
You're smarter than that. This is why you're here. We're not affected by headlines. We follow price.
And the relentless bid in Chinese stocks cannot be ignored.
Exchanges forced them out of their positions because they were so recklessly long.
In fact, the crypto market saw over $2B in liquidations these last few days.
Nine times out of ten, these are tremendous periods of opportunity because shortly after the market finds a bottom.
I went live yesterday to discuss what's happened to cause this volatility and more importantly what we're doing about it to take advantage and make money.
Regardless of the market environment, a company like Visa will keep printing money.
Considering the vast majority of purchases involve credit cards these days and Visa is a dominant player in the space, Visa takes a small cut every time you swipe or tap your card. Good business to be in!